NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Moments after Oregon's blowout victory over Clemson in the opening game of the Nashville Regional on Friday, George Horton stood in front of his players and kept glancing at the locker room door.

Despite 18 runs, 20 hits, back-to-back home runs and a dominating Tommy Thorpe performance on the mound, Horton made sure his players knew one thing.

Nobody was brining the trophy through that door. Not yet.

And now, a day later with regional host Vanderbilt waiting for the Ducks in the evening, the task is to take Friday's performance, learn from it and throw it away.

Because as Horton says, nobody is going to remember 18 runs if the Ducks don't win the tournament.

"The biggest (plus) is that we're 1-0," Horton said Friday. "As we all know this tournament, the most critical game, beside the championship game, is the second one."

The Ducks have transitioned away from Friday's win, but the positives of a blowout could still pay dividends over the weekend. A week after a poor hitting performance against Cal, 10 different players got hits on Friday. The Ducks were able to get 17 players in the game, getting nearly the whole roster an early taste of the postseason.

Maybe most importantly were the players kept out of the game. Thorpe went seven innings and Porter Clayton took it the rest of the way, keeping Oregon's late-inning bullpen arms like Darrell Hunter, Garrett Cleavinger and Jake Reed fresh. With Jeff Gold pitching tonight, the Ducks haven't announced who will be pitching on Sunday, but it's believed that those bullpen arms could get stretched out later in the weekend.

The Ducks didn't have to tap into that resource on Friday, leaving that situation still in play.

"It's good news," Horton said. "Almost a perfect scenario."

Tonight, it's Gold's turn to deliver for the Ducks. The senior right-hander can set Oregon's career wins record with a victory over Vanderbilt, and despite his recent struggles -- his two losses this season came within his last four outings -- Horton said he's confident Gold will match up well against a Vanderbilt team that defeated Xavier 11-0 on Friday.

The Ducks aren't expecting to score 20 runs against the Commodores, but they're hoping they don't need to.

"We have a good pitcher going tomorrow, a solid pitcher," Horton said. "We have no excuses for whoever we see tomorrow."